


Kalabar's Traveling Circus

by TellerQ



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: (no nugs were harmed in the making of this fic), Circus, acro partner dancing, but also real magic, dwarf cannonball (as opposed to human cannonball), fake magic, fire manipulation, flying puppets, i should probably say that this is a pro-mage & pro-spirits fic, it's not gonna be toooo blatant tho i don't think, just in case people don't wanna be reading that, kind of a lot of fake magic, not all of these appear immediately but i have Plans if i decide to continue this, nug juggling, oh! can't forget to tag, red lion taming (technically?), sword swallowing, uh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 02:03:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7201724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TellerQ/pseuds/TellerQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kalabar's Traveling Circus boasts the amazing acts OF:<br/>Rel, the incredible dwarven mage!<br/>Lorne, the red lion tamer!<br/>Aanshi, the stringless puppeteer!<br/>and MORE!<br/>Come one, come all!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kalabar's Traveling Circus

“And now, Lorne’s red lion Balthazar will leap through _three_ rings of _fire_!” crowed Kurhal to the crowd. There were loud gasps as the fierce predator stalked into view, glaring around at the people watching her.

“Scythe, gimme some rings, would you?” called Lorne with a small grin.

The tal-vashoth made a running leap past the curtains and spun in midair, landing in the middle of the circle. As he stood, he brought up three wide circle of stiff, bound cotton above his head and gripped one between his teeth. With a sharp gesture of one hand, he sparked flame at his fingertips and touched them to the hoops, setting them ablaze. More gasps from the crowd, shortly followed by loud cheers. Scythe felt the heat spreading across his face and allowed his eyes to close.

“Balthazar!” Lorne knew just as well as Scythe that this had to be done fast- the powder protecting his hands and lips from catching fire would only last so long, after all. “Leap!”

The red lion surged forward. She bounded closer and closer until finally she soared through the air, her aim perfect. Scythe shook the hoops up and down just slightly to make the flames jump as she passed through.

The crowd went wild.

Balthazar turned towards them and carefully bowed, one paw curled beneath her. Lorne saluted behind her, and then they both bolted for the curtain. Scythe adjusted his grip on the rings and brought them down, dropping the one from his mouth into his hands as they fell. A few skips through them like they were jump ropes later and he had the crowd’s undivided attention.

He tossed the hoops carelessly behind him. As they hit the hook he was aiming for, the flames went out. The tal-vashoth smirked out at the audience and pulled two long torches from the small bag at his side.

“Who here’s heard that qunari come from dragons?”

~ ~ ~

The circus always ended after dark, and the little meet and greet they did after that had things going a while longer. By the time he escaped the over-excited and overly human crowd, it was approaching midnight. Scythe breathed in the first fresh air he’d had in hours and carefully tongued his mouth for little nicks or burns he’d missed in the heat (pun intended) of the moment. When he didn’t find any, he let his frame relax, so much so that he was drooping like a wilted flower when he heard someone coming up behind him.

It was Kiram. She slung an arm over his shoulders when she reached him, yanking him to her and knocking their horns together. “That dragon bit was new! When’d you decide to add that?”

From Scythe’s other side, Jaes appeared. “It was cool!”

“It was,” agreed Velan quietly, from atop Jaes’s shoulders. Jaes himself didn’t even seem to notice the weight, but for a kid who regularly outlifted even the biggest of warriors, that wasn’t much of a surprise.

“Thanks, guys.” Scythe gave a little smile and shrugged. “I heard someone talking about it after the last show. It sounded like a good way to introduce the fire breathing bit.”

“It was!” agreed someone he couldn’t see.

And then Velma was suddenly there, in front of him and walking backwards as they kept on towards the food tent. Beside her was Aanshi, also facing the wrong direction, and his practiced eyes caught how the two women looked out for each other even as they seemed to be utterly unconcerned with anything that could possibly be behind them.

“If I got a dragon puppet, that would be a cool transition,” Aanshi mused. At a subtle nudge from Velma, she lifted her foot up and over the sandbag she’d been about to trip over. She grinned. “You think Rel could come up with some fire thing for me, too?”

“No doubt,” Scythe said and grinned back. “But just remember-” he pulled his hand from his pocket along with a little ball of fire, “-fire’s my thing!” He flicked it at her, making her squeak in surprise, but the flame faded into nothing before it could touch her. Velma snickered and got a punch to the arm for it.

A high pitch screech sounded seconds before something- or should he say _someone_ \- slammed into the back of his skull. The offender clambered up his head until it could hang off one horn. “Hey, Momo,” Scythe sighed as everyone around him laughed themselves silly. The spidermonkey make a quiet, questioning noise and looked around with wide eyes. “Remember, inside voice when you’re on the horns, yes?”

Momo patted his head comfortingly with his free paw and started swinging slightly.

Lorne clapped him on the shoulder as xe walked past, and Momo began chattering loudly, but not _too_ loudly, at his coach as the mage made xyr way past their group. Xe always liked getting into the big tent ahead of the others- maybe because trailing behind xem was xyr massive red lion Balthazar and two slightly smaller mabari, Phil and Lil.

Or maybe it was just because xe liked being first.

Aanshi and Velma raised their arms in sync to pull open the tent flaps behind them. Scythe watched their noses scrunch up just as he smelled it himself- burnt bread.

“Oh yeah,” Velma muttered. “Rel’s cooking tonight.”

No matter her sheer genius when it came to anything mechanically or rune based... Rel wasn’t the best cook. Even now he could hear her muttering about tinkering with the oven, see Kurhal kissing her cheek and talking her out of it. It was pretty adorable, and it happened like clockwork at least once a week.

“Can I help?” Scythe asked, meandering in their direction as the others all sat down to wait. Ever since he’d escaped the Qun he’d enjoyed doing the things he wasn’t “supposed” to do, though he found he enjoyed cooking in particular. The entire tent held their breaths as he reached the two dwarves hovering over the stove and a rather black loaf of bread.

Rel squinted at him for only a second before her face dropped into a pout. “Do what you want,” she sighed.

The tent broke into cheers.

**Author's Note:**

> I had the idea for a travelling circus in Thedas, and, well, then my friend's oc needed a boyfriend, and then I wrote this- soo it was mostly to introduce the characters at least a little bit, from the point of view of Seren's Boyfriend.  
> Idk if I'm going to do more of this, or if so how much more... but the idea's a lot of fun.  
> Anyway, enjoy what's here, and if you want more make sure to let me know!


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